Truth or Tolerance
Truth or Tolerance
The Dumbing Down of
America
By David
Wood
There is no doubt about it. If Jesus were physically walking
the earth today He would be called the most intolerant, arrogant person on the
planet. Think about it: A man walking around telling everyone that He is
the only way to God. How intolerant! How
exclusivistic!
Although Jesus isn't physically walking
the planet today, His followers are. Christianity has taken more heat than
any other belief because of it's exclusive claims. In our culture today,
truth is out and the new tolerance is in. As I have wrote elsewhere,
tolerance no longer means what it has always meant. Today, tolerance means
that you accept every view and belief as being equally true and valid.
Relativism and the new tolerance are being taught in everything from high
schools to the most prestigious universities. What this has caused is a
massive 'dumbing down' of America, with college students and others
having their core beliefs based on nothing but contradictions.
As we will see in the following short
segments, relativism and the new tolerance are nothing but dead-end beliefs that
lead nowhere. We will also see that our culture of tolerance not only
affects religious beliefs, but affects many different issues in society.
Many of the following segments will be intertwined with very similar language
due to the fact that all these issues are related to relativism, tolerance, and
the denial of absolute truth.
Moral
Relativism
Many Christians will automatically say
that all relativism is false, no matter what the context is. This is a
false view of relativism because there are issues in life that are indeed
relative to each person. For example, maybe it is true for me
that chocolate ice cream is the best, but it's not true for you. Or it's
true for you that the Boston RedSox is the best baseball team ever, but it's not
true for me. Issues such as these are indeed personal views and
beliefs. There are things in life that are relative.
Where relativism and tolerance leads
nowhere is with issues of religion, values, and truth. First we need to know what absolute truth
means. Absolute truth means that something is true for every person, all
the time, and everywhere. Moral relativism says that there are no moral
absolutes and no ethical right and wrong, as well as no absolute truth.
Moral relativism can also be described as situational ethics.
There are no moral absolutes, only moral choices made based on each
persons situation. A good example of situational ethics is how some women
view abortion. The relativist will say that abortion isn't absolutely
wrong because not all women view abortion as being wrong. Hence, a woman
considering an abortion will decide for herself what is morally right or wrong
based on her situation..."Abortion wasn't morally wrong for me because of the
situation I am in at home."
The relativist says that truth is
whatever I want it to be. In other words, it might be true for you, but
not for me. As an example of the contradictions within relativism we can
start with how he views truth. Although the relativist will say that there
is nothing absolutely true, he wants us to believe that relativism is absolutely
true. If he wanted to really hold to his own beliefs, he would have to
tell everyone..."relativism is true, even though relativism teaches
there is no truth." This is just the beginning of how relativism is
self-refuting. In other words, the entire concept cancels itself out. If
there is no truth, why would I listen to anything he has to say?
Moral relativism says that there are
just too many people that disagree with each other, so it's impossible that any
one view is absolutely true. Different people from different cultures have
different views of what is morally right, so there must not be any objective
moral absolutes. First, just because people disagree with what is truth
doesn't mean that truth doesn't exist. Second, it's quite possible that
these people do not have enough knowledge about an issue to know what is true or
false, which is why there are so many differing views.
Is There Absolute
Truth?
Remember that absolute truth means that
something is true for everyone everywhere at all times. Relativism and the
new tolerance claim that absolute truth doesn't exist, not in moral
circumstances and certainly not in religious beliefs. Our culture says
that whatever you believe and whatever view you hold to is true for you, even if
it isn't true for anyone else. I mean, we wouldn't want to offend someone
by telling them they are wrong. That would be intolerant!
Instead of the relativist searching out
truth they instead search out opinions. To him there is no reason
to search for truth because there is no truth. So while he tells us that
every belief is relative (except relativism), he wastes his time by labeling
people as "arrogant" or "exclusivistic". But what he fails to admit is
that his own view is exclusivistic. He says that the only true belief
is relativism, and excludes all other beliefs as false. So once
again his belief refutes itself.
It seems that much of what the
relativist says is total nonsense. So for now let's ignore him and
investigate if absolute truth really exists. First, let's look at what is
not truth:
Truth is not what works: This is
just one flawed view of truth. This view says that just because something works,
then it must be true. But it doesn't take long to see how this view is indeed
false. Use the court system as an example. A person will tell a lie on the
witness stand to make the outcome "work" in their favor, even though what they
are saying is a lie.
Truth is not what feels good: This is another
subjective position. This view is found among New Age, psychic hotlines, and
also among the new tolerance group. Basically it states that anything that feels
good must be true, and anything that feels bad is in error. But anyone that has
received bad news in his or her life knows that the bad news doesn't feel good,
even though it is the truth. In short, feelings and truth do not go hand in
hand.
Truth is not found in intentions: This simply
means that someone will say something is true just because his or her intentions
are good. Problem is, if something were true just because a person intended it
to be true, that would mean that all sincere statements ever spoken would be
true. At one time, people believed and taught that the world was flat. Although
these people "sincerely" believed that, it wasn't the truth. Another example is
atheism. An atheist can believe in all sincerity that there is no God, but his
intentions and sincerity have nothing to do with the truth. Many times,
sincere people are sincerely wrong.
Many people are offended at the thought of
Christianity claiming to have absolute truth and that it is intolerant to
say that all other beliefs are false. On the surface, this sounds like a
compassionate view. But the question remains, is it a true
view?
When speaking with people about Christianity, I have
had people tell me how close minded I am, how intolerant I am, etc. So, are
Christians close-minded? If a Christian says that his view is correct, does that
make him intolerant? Obviously if you say that your view is absolutely true,
that means that all others are false. Sometimes I would be called ignorant
because I was so "close-minded", but am I to remain open-minded to all beliefs
when all reason says there can only be one conclusion?
People that hold to relativism and the new tolerance
come across as if they are always open-minded. In reality, always being
open-minded is one of the most close-minded positions of them all. Why? Because
it eliminates any absolute view from consideration. If a person is really
open-minded, then shouldn't they be open-minded to the view that absolute truths
are possible? If a person claims they are open-minded, then shouldn't they be
open-minded to the possibility that only one belief is true? If only one view
can be true, am I to remain open-minded to all other views?
While people claim to be open-minded, those that
believe that all views are equal and true are not only close-minded but
also empty-headed. To hide from anything truthful is not
open-minded. This is why relativism and the new tolerance never gets
anywhere. You can’t ever reach a true answer to your questions
because there are no true answers. And even if you were to find the true
answers, using reason, you can’t talk about them because then you would be
intolerant and close-minded to other beliefs. Relativism and the new
tolerance do nothing but confuse and avoid true answers being found to real
questions.
Another problem with accepting every belief as true
is that a person could never learn anything. To him, there are no absolute right
and wrongs, no absolute truths. But a part of learning something is moving from
a false view to a true view. But that would be impossible for him because there
are no true views. The new tolerance teaches that we shouldn't say any
view is false because we could offend someone. The relativist knows that
truth is exclusive because truth excludes everything false. So to
keep from hurting someone's feelings, he will believe anything, even if it's a
lie. Even a half-truth is still a whole lie.
While college professors teach their students that
they shouldn't offend anyone, they neglect to tell their students that
relativism and the new tolerance is the most offensive belief of all. It's
offensive to any thinking person and falls apart logically and
philosophically. Students are taught they should see every belief as equal
and true, unless that belief claims to have absolute truth. Then
they are taught that absolute truth doesn't exist, but that relativism
is the absolute truth.
The relativist will say..." It is absolutely true
that this is true for me, even if it isn't for you." Do you see a problem
with that statement? He is saying that truth can only be relative, and
that it is absolutely true for him. But, he can’t say that. He has
contradicted himself. How can he say that something is absolutely true for him
when he doesn't believe in absolute truth? All that relativism does is spin you
around in a never ending circle, an infinite regress with no true
answers. Relativism is an easy convenient belief system because in it, you can
never be wrong. So it doesn't matter if a belief is the truth, as long as its
true to him, he can say that he is right even when he is wrong. Also, the
relativist and the follower of the new tolerance are really intolerant
themselves. Think about it for a moment. When someone says that my view is being
intolerant of other views, that person is being intolerant of my view!
Relativism can only be subjective, never objective. Because when one is
objective, the possibility exists that truth can be found, but that's impossible
for a relativist because there is no absolute truth. The fact of the matter is
that if Christianity is true, then all non-Christian beliefs would be false. In
reality, an atheist’s view is just as "narrow-minded" as the views of the
Christian. The atheist will say that his belief is true, which means that all
others must be false.
Related Reading:
Code Words of the Culture
The Misery of Man if God Doesn't Exist
